In an Orchard. By Katherine S. Macquoid. 2 vols. (Bliss,
Sands, and Foster.)—Mrs. Macquoid never writes a story that is other than pretty, graceful, and in various ways pleasant. Her latest story has all these good qualities, and it does not seem easy to justify a feeling of vague disappointment. We think the truth it that both the characters and incidents are somewhat lacking in interest, and the narrative lacks the inevitableness which gives to a novel form and organism and unity. The heroine is very vaguely conceived. During the greater part of the story she is a charming though rather shallow and selfish girl ; but in the final pages her character is entirely changed, and we are left without any sufficient indication of the nature of the transforming influence. Then there is a certain mysterious Le'ocadie who for some reason is very anxious that Gabrielle shall marry the young fisherman, Pierre Sarrazin, and who does all that in her lies to raise a scandal by,associating their names together ; but for any- thing that we learn in the course- of the story, her action is altogether destitute of adequate motive, and it therefore becomes a source of irritation rather than of interest. There are some charming descriptive passages ; but the novel, as a whole, seems to us rather in the air.
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